Dairy farmers crowd Parliament Hill to protest milk loophole

Some 2,500 dairy farmers from across Canada rallied on Parliament Hill Thursday, demanding the federal government stop the use of a U.S. milk protein in Canadian cheese.

With a convoy of tractors, milk trucks, manure spreaders honking in the background and a yearling strutting her stuff down Wellington Street, dairy farmers urged the Liberals to enforce Canadian cheese standards.

More than a few in the crowd carried signs accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of failing to protect the dairy industry by not closing the trade loophole currently allowing some cheese producers to use diafiltered milk.

“He’s not acting. It’s a regulation that is not being enforced. It needs to be enforced,” said Quebec dairy farmer Catherine Meunier, all the while holding a handmade “Trudeau is letting the dairy sector die” sign. Her operation milks 85 cows.

“I don’t think he’s not listening to young farmers,” she said, adding her operation has already had to cut back on costs – including veterinarian costs. “It’s becoming harder and harder.”

The Canadian Border Services Agency considers diafiltered milk as a protein ingredient, while the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says diafiltered milk is milk. According to federal law, all cheese sold in Canada must be made with a minimum percentage of actual milk.

If the standards aren’t enforced, farmers warned some operations will go under.

“This is about my future,” farmer Jocelyn Serres told iPolitics. “Already there are discussions within our operation about whether we will continue. We don’t know if we will fill the feed silos or not. This year we will, but next year we don’t know.

“It all depends on the price of milk. Diafiltered milk has dropped our prices, which is wears us down,” he said. His family’s 40-cow operation is losing about $15,000 per year, he said, because of diafiltered milk imports from the United States.

The Liberals promised to stop U.S. diafiltered milk imports during the fall election, yet seven months into their mandate, dairy farmers say the issue remains unresolved.

Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, who was not at Thursday rally because of a G20 agriculture minister’s meeting in China, has said he is working with the dairy industry to find a long-term solution to the problem.

On May 2, he promised to meet with the industry within 30 days to find a solution to the issue. The minister met with Dairy Farmers of Canada on diafiltered milk for just under an hour May 18. The outcomes of those meetings have not been made public.